John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown (1989); and worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. Frequent TV pundit: O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Bio, article archive.

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I didn’t know that. The original is very moving, but I can see why Hadfield would prefer a happier ending.

Sweetie

I wonder if he paid the necessary royalties to the RIAA.

roland felix

now that’s what I am talking obout ,go major tom.

Space Odysseus

The way it’s done is very nice, gives a warm and fuzzy feeling, but what was great about the original song — and the movie, 2001, that inspired it — was the implied tension between the awesomeness of advanced technology and the dangers it can bring. That’s what I miss in Hadfield’s version.

http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

According to the news stories, Hadfield wanted to change up the lyrics a bit to reflect his own return home — which hopefully ahead of time would not include being marooned forever in space. Hence one line refers to him closing the Soyuz hatch.

It wasn’t meant to be totally accurate, and judging from the tweets and retweets, Bowie himself thought it was way cool.

Space Odysseus

It’s pretty cool — although it seems weird to me that he didn’t sing the most compelling part of Bowie’s lyric, “Ground control to major Tom, your circuits dead, there’s something wrong,” and all the drama surrounding that, with the astronaut requesting “Tell my wife I love her very much,” and ground control responding, “She knows,” etc.

nicho

Kind of?

http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot

What an amazing man!

mrspeel2

There better be a Grammy for that video! What a fantastic job, BRAVO!!!

js

He’s also kind of hot too. One of the best things about the “privatization” of space travel will be zero gravity porn!

Naja pallida

Don’t make us land this thing and drag you off!

nicho

I hear it as “shorts.” Maybe it’s his Canadian accent. :-)

http://www.facebook.com/monoceros.forth Monoceros Forth

Nah, I still think Buzz Aldrin has that one sewn up for good, for punching out that conspiracy nut.

http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

Chris Hadfield wins the prize as the coolest damn astronaut EVER.

http://www.facebook.com/monoceros.forth Monoceros Forth

What shirts does he wear?

AndyinChicago

I love Hadfield. Even as a biologist, it’s hugely apparent to me that he’s done a huge service for science outreach. We should have more scientists like him.

AndyinChicago

I love Hadfield. Even as a biologist, it’s hugely apparent to me that he’s done a huge service for science outreach. We should have more scientists like him.